CO-OP Holding FIS Accountable

CO-OP Financial Services, the nationwide payments CUSO that is parent of the surcharge free CO-OP Network and CO-OP Shared Branching, said it is both confident that FIS will successfully address its data security issues and determined to hold its business partner accountable for doing so.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based FIS processes debit transactions for CO-OP and markets access to CO-OP's surcharge-free ATMs to its clients. The NCUA recently advised the 5,400 credit unions that use FIS for card processing to evaluate their relationship with the company.

Caroline Lane, senior vice president for business development for CO-OP in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., said the CUSO would accept FIS' declarations for what it had been doing to correct the security concerns that were the subject of a supervisory letter from a group of federal financial regulators, but also said the CUSO would also hold the company accountable for making those changes.

She did not elaborate on what that accountability might include.

“I wouldn't say we would just take their word for it about what they are doing, that's sounds too soft,” Lane explained. “We will hold them accountable for following through.”